CREEM ONLINE: Bob Dylan/Willie Nelson

Bob Dylan / Willie Nelson
Fifth Third Ballpark, Comstack Park, MI
August 24, 2004

In a great celebration of Americana, Bob Dylan assembled a bill that included Willie Nelson and the Hot Club of Cowtown and embarked on a tour of minor league ballparks this summer. In August, the tour hit the Fifth Third Ballpark, named for a bank and home of the West Michigan Whitecaps (a farm team for the beloved and beleaguered Detroit Tigers). And despite the fact that baseball parks in general tend to be sucky places to see shows, this one was, ahem, a homerun. (Editor's note: All writers are required by law to use at least one tired-ass baseball metaphor in reviews of this tour).

Here in 2004, Dylan has abandoned the guitar in favor of a keyboard set up out of the way, tucked into a corner of stage right where he can keep an eye on the rest of the band. Why isn't he playing guitar? Tendonitis? Boredom? Some other mysterious reason? With Dylan, it's hard to know for sure.

Dylan has also essentially abandoned the concept of melody almost entirely. Old favorites and newer material alike are rendered in an atonal bleat that comes off like Tom Waits with a sore throat. Occasionally, it would take until the chorus to figure out what song he was singing. But still, his delivery continues to fascinate.

What he's proving yet again on this tour is that he can really rock. In fact, there's no question that he can kick out the jams, motherfucker. Starting off with "Down Along the Cove" and "I'll Be Your Baby Tonight," he hit a stride and never really let up all night (save perhaps for the tepid duet with Willie Nelson on "I Shall Be Released").

But after about halfway through the set, you started seeing a small but steady stream of baffled-looking Boomers whose last contact with Dylan was "Like a Rolling Stone" filing out. One imagines a certain level of disappointment there, which is too bad. Dylan is both incapable and unwilling to be a mere greatest hits machine. He's still an artist of prime importance, and his performance in Grand Rapids was searing.

The blistering reading of "Highway 61 Revisited" was the highlight of the show. "Masters of War" was apt given the times. But, then again, it's hard to think of a time when Dylan's social commentary hasn't been relevant. It seems that the more the times are a-changing, the more they're a-staying the same.

Dylan's set was a fitting culmination to a night that was filled with everything that is right about America (but thankfully devoid of jingoism). Willie Nelson offered up a low-key history of country music with a giant rollicking band. Between Dylan and Nelson, that's a big-ass bucket of amazing songwriting. Kicking the night off, the Hot Club of Cowtown channeled Bob Wills and set every toe a-tappin'.